Ken Russell's 2006 New Year Sermon

A Letter From Simeon

I received a letter from Simeon on Thursday-fastpost.His Christmas
letter.Well,not literally from Simeon.( the mind boggles at the thought of that-2000 years in the post would be quite a record wouldn't
it,especially for New Zealand
Post,and I doubt whether there
would be even one language expert in New Zealand that could translate it anyway!
)More correctly,I should say my letter was from a modern-day Simeon.( My idea.Not his!)

I will not mention his real name,though from a long and well
remembered ministry in the deep south in a prestigious Presbyterian Church,some of you would recognise his name if you heard it, ,and you might even, like me,have
had the privilege of knowing him.

But I will continue to call him Simeon.I knew Him as a colleague in the seventies,and then caught up with him in the far north twenty yrs later
where,again,he had a ministry that is remembered with
great affection. He's older now.Indeed,he celebrated his 90th birthday
this week

In his letter Simeon reports he gets breathless
with even the slightest expenditure of energy.Even unscrewing the top of a bottle of
tonic water,he says,is a struggle!He doesn't hear or seeso well,and his appetite has diminished. . . . .all real concessions
from a man who throughout a long life has been known for robust good health
and remarkable fitness.

But this week's letter was no tale of woe.Indeed, I am not at all surprised to discover that the same Simeon character I've respected
for so long is sparking well.

So how do I remember Simeon?A minister who was known in a 17 year ministry for fresh,relevant, deep and often unconventional insights intothe truth of the gospel -he attracted people who knew they would be challenged, even
disturbed by his preaching-yet at the same time,an
impish man with a twinkle in his eye,a bubbling sense of humour,and
a huge love of people. While
ostensibly a shy man,he came alive
in community,whether inside or
outside the Church.

He was a catholic,liberal,ecumenicaland inclusive Presbyterian, -a rarer breed these days-often snubbing
his nose at pretentious authority,asking uncomfortable questions,and rocking boats that many of his contemporaries preferred
to keep safely moored in calm untroubled waters..

He was one who believed implicitly in his own intuition,and was not easily swayed by others who claimed the mandate
of the majority.

It was totally in character when in the early days of the Sea of Faith
in this country,Simeon became a member, sometimes traveling long distances to sit
at the feet of some of the most visionary and radical of scholars who came to
New Zealand,exciting contributors
to the ongoing world wide debate on the all important question of "Who was this
Jesus, really?How much of
what the gospels tell us about Jesus of Nazareth is authentic Jesus,and how much is tradition,even hearsay?"

For Simeon it has been a lifetime quest to probe those questions, . . .a clue to which,for
the discerning reader,is
in the wording of his Christmas greeting to his friends

By comparison,I know a lot less about the biblical Simeon,and what I do know probably needs demythologizing anyway.Luke has Simeon making huge connections between Jewish prophetic historyand Christ as the long-awaited Messiah-which was important
for the early Church,as most were
Jewish.

Simeon stands in the Gospel story as a very old man, one who loves God above all else,learned in the
faith tradition of his people,and
faithful in his service at the Temple.But he had never joined the priesthood,standing apart from the powerful ordained brotherhood and the equally powerful levitical bureaucracy.If there was a Sea of Faith,acting
independently of the religious establishment,Simeon would have been in it.

Andin circumstances of which we are largely
unaware, on an otherwise undistinguished
occasion, Simeon comes into contact
with a young couple from Nazareth,Joseph and his wife Mary,and their son Jesus,visiting the Temple for the purposes of the ritual purification following
childbirth-but let's not go down that track!

Call it the leading of the Holy Spirit-as does Luke-or call it intuition,-but Simeon
seizes a moment in time,a stellar
moment of incredible inspiration to identify in that child, Jesus,the personification of everything his
long intuitive journey of faith
has pointed to. .

-call it a "eureka" moment,-an "I
have it" moment of rare insightbut
it was enough in due course to send Simeon contented to hisgrave!

I have
tried to imagine the inner thought processes in old Simeon's mind . . . .

But
Simeon,the seer of rare imagination,was doing much more than indulging insentimental wishful thinkingfor
this Jesus child.There's
nothing na•ve or sentimental in his vision for what this child will be and do
if he dares to be faithful to the commission that Simeon foresees will fall
upon him.As Mary and Joseph hear the saintly
old man's prophecy,they must wonder
whether this mantle of responsibility will be something they can possibly embrace-or whether in their own interests,they should take their child,and run,and like Jonah before them,take the next slow boat to China,or Patagonia,or
wherever,to escape. . . .

"this child"says
the old man "is destined for the
falling and rising of many in Israel-he
will be a sign that will be opposed-the inner
motives of those who oppose him will be revealed-and looking directly at his mother Mary,the hardest word of all"and a sword
will pierce your own heart as well."

Did you ever hear a presbyter
courageous enough to look into the eyes of a mother whose first child was brought
for baptism,and utter a word like
that. . . . .it's
not the way you win friends and influence people,but it's a reminder, if we need one, that
the gospel is many things to many people,but seldom,if
ever,a recipe for a life of strawberries
and cream.

Did you hear the repeat
interview yesterday morning of Kim Hill and Merv Brown from Wanganui.Merv Brown, -now well into his 80's,but still very coherent-I remember from Bible Class days,was often a leader at our Easter Camps
in the post war years,and at that
time was a member of the Riverside Community at Lower Moutere.Little did most of us realize
at that time what Merv had been through during the war years as he followed
through on his deeply felt pacifist commitment to Jesus Christ as a member of
the Methodist Bible Class movement of those years-deemed a coward and a traitorby
the authorities so committed to the war effort,he spent pretty much the entire
duration of the war in detention,given
backbreaking and soul destroying tasks-anything to
hide and punish a conscience that would not repent of a commitment to one-who in Merv's vision-was then,and remains,the
Prince of Peace,a commitment not
to be compromised,a way of living
that meant for himand hundreds
like him in New Zealand at that time,an experience of isolation and loneliness,their own experience of the cross.I had the feeling from Kim Hill in the interview-she whose ascerbic
tongue so often conveys cynicism and agnosticism-I had the feeling she as the interviewer recognized she was on holy ground,and this was a man to be respected.

.

Luke
the Gospel writer,of course,wasn't there to witness this well remembered
encounter in the courtyard of the Temple,but as the remembered stories were assembled from the verbal
traditions on which he was so dependant. .the "song of Simeon"
took shape. . .the
Nunc Dimittus as the latin Church fondly named it

Lord,now let your servant depart in peace

According to your word;

For my own eyes have
seen your salvation

Which you have prepared in the presence of all people,

A light of
revelation to the Gentiles

And glory for the
people of Israel.

Bruce Prewer's little poem sums up Luke's Simeon pretty well

The
very old

will hang on by a thread

for some special event;

maybe
a family wedding,

reunion
of old army mates,

a new
grandchild's advent.

Simeon
was old

but not ready to die

until hope found relief;

waiting
for truth revealed

full
of such faith and love

that
beggared old belief.

At last
it came

into his very arms,

his heart beating joy-wild;

with
a sigh of sweet content,

letting
go now, in peace,

he handed
back the Child.î B D Prewer 2001

Luke
gives Old Simeon the credit for one of the most fundamental claims about Jesus
which you and I, members of the Jesus Church2000 years later,treasure
and re-affirm on this New Year's Day. . . . The good news this child Jesus would give to
the worldis for all people.Not for the Jews alone.For ALL PEOPLE . Not for any particular religion,or Church.Not
for any exclusive class,but for
all people regardless of race, colour,gender,ethnicityor sexual orientation.It was explosive good news at the time the gospels
were written.It led to revolutions.It rocked the foundations,as
still it does today when it is released in the face of arrogance and pride.That was Simeon.If there's a list of Gospel heroes,that elderly far-sighted seer must be
on the short list.

If I have a New Year
wish for our community,and indeed
for the wider community to which we belong,it is that in 2006 the Simeon voices in our midst might be
heard more clearly.Who are these people?

They are people like
the original, who think boldly
and imaginatively outside the square. It is unlikely they have featured in the New Year honours.The are the Evan Lewises of the church who before it was popular to do
so quietly fashioned a website to allow other Simeon's to speak to the world.They are voices inside and outside the established
Church,they are in aid agencies,in the mediaandin universities.They
arepeople like Greg Hughson,quietly spoken,but patiently effectively using his chaplain's
influence across a multi-discipline campus for peace,toleranceand understanding.They
are visionary voices,poets,singers,writers,
hymn writers like Colin Gibson,Shirley Murray and a host of others,replacing the old and largely irrelevant
hymnary of 100 years ago with new hymns for a new day.Some are elderly voices,counsels of experience and tolerance,hoary with age,maybe,but stunning in their integrity and a quiet authority you know
is from God.Others are younger.(Yes, not all of today's Simeons are old and tired) -their vision makes them urgent and impatient for a better world,
activists for the poor,the down
trodden,and the whales, unwilling to meekly complywiththe status quo that perpetuates the injustice that makes for
war and warmongering.The Simeons
of this world are by definition not written in large letters in the headlines.They are not famous or powerful
-but thank God they occasionally,like the Simeon of Luke's Gospel,step out from the crowd, and point the way to God's truth and God's future.In this new year,nurture
them!They are treasure in our
midst.

The Simeon of my letter added a postscript,which I share with you as yet another
word of wisdom

He who knows not,and
knows not that he knows not, is A FOOL.Spurn him.